Museum Judenplatz: Remembrance and History in the Heart of Vienna

On Judenplatz, one of the oldest squares in Vienna's city center, stands Museum Judenplatz, a place that closely connects remembrance with historical education. Opened in 2000 as the second location of the Jewish Museum Vienna.

Excavations of a Medieval Synagogue

In the museum's lower level lie the excavations of the medieval synagogue that formed the center of Vienna's Jewish community until the pogrom of 1421. The exposed foundation walls give visitors a direct sense of Jewish life in medieval Vienna.

Remembrance on Judenplatz

Directly in front of the museum stands the Memorial for the Austrian Jewish Victims of the Shoah by Rachel Whiteread, a walk-around concrete sculpture in the form of an inverted library. Together, the museum and memorial form a place that connects history, remembrance, and education.

The History and Present of Jewish Life

Exhibitions in the museum trace the history of Vienna's Jewish community from the Middle Ages to the present, complemented by documentation on the impact of the Shoah on Jewish life in Vienna. A visit to Museum Judenplatz is thus both a historical and a deeply moving engagement with the city's history.